The majority of Israelis would like to avoid a situation where Blue and White leader Benny Gantz forms a minority government with the support of the Joint Arab List, an Israel Hayom poll found.
The survey was conducted by the Maagar Mohot polling institute, among 565 respondents comprising a representative sample of Israelis 18 and over. The statistical margin of error is 4.3%.
The final tally of the ballots cast in the March 2 elections gave Likud, the ruling party, 36 Knesset seats, while the challenger Blue and White won 33 seats.
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The Joint Arab List followed with 15 mandates – an unprecedented achievement for the alliance comprising the Arab or mostly Arab Balad, Ra'am-Ta'al, and Hadash parties. Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas won nine seats, followed by Ashkenazi haredi party United Torah Judaism (7), Yisrael Beytenu (7), Labor-Gesher-Meretz (7) and Yamina, a faction comprising the New Right, National Union, and Habayit Hayehudi parties, with six parliamentary seats.
The far-right Otzma Yehudit party failed to secure the prerequisite four-Knesset-seat electoral threshold of 3.25% of the votes.
Again, the result was political deadlock: The right-wing bloc secured 58 seats – just shy of the 61-MK majority necessary to formed government, while the Center-Left bloc garnered 40 seats, but factoring in the support of the Joint Arab List it has 55 mandates.
This again left the fate of the coalition at the hands of Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman, initially stated that he would not support a Netanyahu-led government and had, in fact, began exploring joining a government led by Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, but the coronavirus outbreak in Israel inspired a change of heart.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gantz spoke late Thursday night on the possibility of forming an emergency national unity government to battle the pandemic, and Lieberman, as well as President Reuven Rivlin, expressed support for the move.
The question of a potential alliance between Gantz and the Joint Arab List, however, continues to cloud the issue, but according to Thursday's poll, forcing such a move will not go over well with the majority of the Israeli public.
The poll found that 55% of Israelis do not approve of Gantz pursuing a minority government with the support of Arab lawmakers. Some 31% support the move and 14% said they had no opinion on the matter.
Blue and White MKs Zvi Houser and Yoaz Hendle – the party's more hawkish members – oppose the move. The poll found that 40% of respondents believe the two should vote against the bid, 23% said they must toe the party line, 22% said they should resign, and 15% said they had no opinion on the matter.
Asked about the preferred nature of the future government, 31% of respondents said they would like to see a broad national unity government installed, comprising Likud, Blue and White, and other parties. Some 26% favored a narrow right-wing government; 17% said a narrow unity government including Likud and Blue and White would be best; 17% said a minority government should be installed, and the reminder 9% listed other options or said they had no opinion on the matter.
The poll also found that among Blue and White voters, only 47% backed the option of a minority government, while 39% opposed it.
Over among Joint Arab List voters, 82% would like to see a minority government formed. If the option of a unity government falters, 60% of Arab Israelis support holding a fourth election, while 40% oppose this scenario.
As for the future of the political logjam, 40% of Israelis believe a forth elections is unavoidable; 19% believe a right-wing government will be formed; 13% think a national unity government will be cobbled together; 9% see a minority government in Israel's future, and the remaining 19% listed other options or said they had no opinion on the matter.
When asked who they think was best qualified for the role of the prime minister, 47% named Netanyahu, 36% preferred Gantz, and 17% named other individuals or said they did not know.
